


If I Were a Bell

by Ptolomeia



Series: Rhymes With "I love You" [1]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: And the Amenadiel plot, F/M, Fluff, JUST LET ME HAVE MY FLUFF, Lucifer and Chloe don't know how to have actual conversations, Lucifer thinks smutty thoughts but the follow through only happens in the sequel, Singing, ignores the ending, takes place during season 4 episode 8, the Tribe is the best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:15:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23400661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ptolomeia/pseuds/Ptolomeia
Summary: An idea strikes when Chloe happens to walk in on Ella watching a video of Lucifer preforming "Luck be a Lady Tonight," and chatting on the phone with Candy. The only question is, is she brave enough to pull this off?
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar
Series: Rhymes With "I love You" [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683310
Comments: 14
Kudos: 133





	If I Were a Bell

**Author's Note:**

> So, RANDOM CONTEXT that might be important if you don't know the plot of Guys and Dolls. So, "Luck be a Lady" is sung by a guy named Sky when he's trying to pull off a plan to get him back in the good graces of his Lady Love, Sarah. "If I Were a Bell," is sung earlier on in the Musical, by Sarah, to Sky, telling him how she feels. Also, she is VERY drunk when singing it, which explains... well... most of the lyrics. 
> 
> Here's a link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC_cdx7QXq4
> 
> And with that out of the way, go forth and enjoy!

Chloe hadn’t meant to make this discovery. Really, she’d just wanted to ask Ella something about the latest case, but when she found the forensic pathologist on the phone, looking at a video on her laptop, it was really too late. 

“Oh, come on, Candy! My high kicks were not  _ that _ bad.” Ella laughed as the video went on. A video, Chloe could see as she stepped silently forward, of Lucifer in a satiny grey suit, surrounded by attractive women in skimpy purple costumes with silver ornaments and purple feathers that looked like they were from another decade. Were they from another decade? It’s not like Chloe hadn’t seen pictures of Lucifer since pictures had first become a thing, damn Father Kinly. But no, Ella was one of the dancers...

She must have made some noise, because Ella whipped around to face her, eyes wide. “Oh! Hi Chloe! Bye person who I’m speaking to on the phone with for the first time who I’ve never met before! It was nice talking to you!” She pulled her phone away from her ear and smashed her finger on the hang up button, though not before Chloe heard a “wait! Ella!” in an almost familiar voice. Ella’s other hand reached out to slam her laptop closed.

“So, Candy, huh?” She asked, giving her friend a look. “Since when do you and Candy Morningstar talk?” 

“Candy Morningstar?” Ella asked, with the fakest laugh Chloe had ever heard. “No, that was my other friend Candy, from... University? Yeah! University. She studied, um...”

“Exotic dancing?” Chloe asked, one eyebrow going up. “And the reason you were watching a video with Lucifer playing the star in it was?” 

“Cause I’m in it too?” Ella tried. “And she... uh.. Wanted to...”

“Look, Ella,” Chloe said, trying a different tack. “You’ve already said you’re friends with Candy Morningstar, and I’m pretty sure this is about her, and  _ not _ about your alleged friend ‘Candy from University’. You know I won’t judge you, Ella.” It was almost working, she was almost getting through. “No secrets in Tribe, right?” 

She knew that was playing dirty,  _ especially _ since Ella was the only member of the Tribe that didn’t know The Truth, but it wasn’t her fault Lucifer wouldn’t show her his true face, was it? Besides, he told her The Truth every day, it was Ella’s choice not to believe it. 

_ And if you believe that, I know a Devil who can sell you the Hollywood sign.  _

She brutally shunted that thought aside and focused on Ella, who’d finally caved. 

“Ok, but you have to  _ promise _ not to tell Lucifer, ok? He  _ really  _ didn’t want you to find out about this.” That hurt, but given how she’d reacted when she’d found out the truth, maybe he was right to want to keep things from her. 

“I promise, Ella, you can tell me.”

“Right, right. Chicks before Dicks anyway, right?” Ella let out a slightly nervous laugh and punched Chloe lightly on the arm. “So, you remember your birthday last year when Lucifer and I up and vanished randomly?” Chloe felt a moment of guilt for focusing exclusively on Lucifer vanishing, but on the other hand, he was her partner and it was her birthday and Ella had already made a big gesture, so... “Well, it all started when Lucifer got a call from the Los Vegas Police Department...” and that was how Chloe ended up learning the true story of what he’d been doing in Vegas on her birthday. She couldn’t be mad he’d left, not really. Not when he’d thought that Candy had been murdered. Finding out he’d kept a police investigation from her and also the Los Vegas Police and that he’d worked alone (Ella did  _ not  _ count. She was forensics for someone’s sake!),  _ that _ she was annoyed by. Then again, he was the literal Devil and someone had killed his wife--well, business partner. Apparently. Or at least tried to. And it wasn’t like he had to be worried about getting hurt with Chloe in another city. 

Chloe shook her head. Just because she was getting used to these ‘Devil Headaches’ did not mean she wanted another one. 

“So, can you show me the video from the start?” Chloe asked, gesturing to where the devil stood frozen on the computer screen. 

“Uh, sure. One sec,” Ella said, opening the laptop properly and starting from the beginning. They watched Lucifer sing through the most popular song of Chloe's favourite musical. And then, at Chloe’s request, they watched it again. Chloe ignored Ella’s smirk. 

Then, as she was getting her friend to send her the video file, an idea occurred to her. She had never believed in divine inspiration before, but...

A way to tell Lucifer what he meant to her. A way to tell him the truth. A way he might actually understand with all his... Luciferness. A way that would let him reject her without her having to say the words, if that was what he wanted. 

But she couldn’t do it yet. Not until Lucifer actually broke up with Eve. It wouldn’t be fair to any of them. 

It was at that exact moment that Lucifer blew into the lab. “So, I’ve finally broken up with Eve. Crisis averted, world saved, et cetera, et cetera. Oh! Ms. Lopez, I didn’t realize you were in here. Is that me on your computer?”

In the resulting kerfuffle of Ella trying to unsuccessfully lie again and distract/comfort him by getting him to talk about his break up, Chloe easily managed to slip out of the lab with nothing more than an imploring glance from Lucifer, which, after years of practice, she easily ignored. 

‘Alright,’ she thought at the ceiling. ‘You’ve made yourself clear.’

Divine inspiration indeed. 

Still, she couldn’t actually see the flaw in her plan, so she took out her phone and dialed the number she still had memorized, all these years later. 

“Hello, Mrs. Leger? It’s Chloe Decker calling. Yeah, it  _ has _ been way too long. Anyway, I was wondering, do you still teach singing?”

***

Chloe stood in front of the Tribe before the fireplace in her living room. Trixie was safely at Dan’s, unable to overhear her mother’s plan and possibly get her hopes up. After all, Trixie liked Lucifer and she didn’t want her daughter’s heart to get broken all over again. 

“And Trix is the only one you’re worried about that happening to, huh?” Maze asked at this explanation, her eyebrow going up. Chloe ignored her. 

“So,” She said, clasping her hands in front of her, “will you guys help me?”

“Are you sure talking about this wouldn’t be better-- _ clearer _ for both of you?” Linda asked, giving Chloe a look that was both meaningful and resigned over her drink. 

“No,” Chloe replied with a firm shake of her head. “This is how Lucifer communicates. I think it’s time I meet him halfway.” He’d made so many steps into her world over the years. Things she hadn’t cared about or noticed because they were just what you’d expect of another human being. Knowing the truth? It touched her, how much of an effort he’d made to be part of her life on her terms. 

“More than past time if you ask me,” Maze grumbled, taking a swig of her vodka and the words out of Chloe’s mind. “I mean, I’m all for people torturing themselves, but this? This has been going on for  _ way _ too long.” 

“I’m in!” Ella said, smiling into her own cup of wine. “I know I was  _ way _ off base with Pierce, but you and Lucifer? You two make each other happy, and that’s totally been the case since  _ way  _ before I showed up.”

Chloe made the Devil happy? It wasn’t as horrifying a thought as she once thought it should be. 

“Alright!” Linda said, throwing her hands up in defeat. Fortunately she’d put her glass down before the dramatic gesture, saving Chloe’s couch from an untimely death. “I’m in too. If you think this is what’s for the best, I trust your judgement.” 

“But,” Maze said, leaning forward and giving Chloe a hard look. “If you’re going to do this, you’re going to do it right. No backing out, no holds barred, no half hearted  _ anything _ . I’m sick of watching you two dance around each other. You do this, and you do it right.” 

“Agreed.” Chloe said, suppressing her nerves. Either he’d want her after this, or he wouldn’t. Either way, they both deserved this chance, didn’t they? “I’m glad you’re in Maze, cause without you, this whole plan won’t work.” She shot her old roommate a grateful smile which was met with a secretly loving eye roll. “Alright, girls, here’s what I’m going to need you to do.” 

***

Lucifer made his way down to Lux a little earlier that evening than was his wont. After everything with Eve, with the Detective, all he really wanted to do was play his heart out at the piano, alone in his penthouse. But he had responsibilities outside of work, responsibilities he took seriously, no matter what the people at the precinct might think. So, he’d make the rounds tonight, entertain his adoring public and, who knew, maybe it would take his mind off of the mess that was the rest of his life. 

He left the elevator and went to stand at the top of the stairs leading down to the club, surveying the night’s revelry. He was pulled up short, though, when his eyes caught the detective’s distinctive blond hair at the bar, sipping what appeared to be a dulche de leche cocktail. He hadn’t know she liked rum. Maybe he should get her a bottle for her apartment. She clearly needed more alcohol there, especially with Maze moved out, taking her supply with her. 

Still, was she desperate enough for booze that she was coming to  _ his _ club of all places? Even after she’d rejected him? After she couldn’t accept the entirety of him? Surely the allure of free top-shelf couldn’t be  _ that _ compelling. Not given the stuff she chose to drink without anyone actually forcing her. No, there  _ must _ be something more to this. 

Mind made up, he made his way over to her. 

“Detective!” He said, giving her a once over. She was beautiful. Of course, she was always beautiful, not that he was remotely biased. But still, she’d done something with her hair and make up that made him want to--do things she wouldn’t welcome, he reminded himself firmly. Of course, it didn’t match at  _ all _ with the t-shirt and jeans she was wearing, but who was he to judge? Still, it was a good thing she had carte-blanche when it came to his club, she’d have never gotten in in that outfit without it. “What brings you to my humble club?”

“There is nothing humble about you or your club, Lucifer,” She said, giving him a nervous smile that broke his heart. After all this time, she still didn’t feel safe with him. “And what are you doing down here? Don’t you normally come down later?”

Ah. So she really had just been desperate for top shelf. He really would have to get her that bottle of rum, so she wouldn’t have to drag herself somewhere she clearly didn’t want to be just to get pleasantly numb. Hm, that sounded like a good idea, and with her in the club, maybe he’d actually be able to achieve it for once. He turned to the bartender only to find him talking with Maze. Well, he could get sloshed afterwards. And he still hadn’t answered the Detective’s question. 

“Normally, yes,” He told her with a smile, not expanding. 

Chloe frowned, almost reaching out to him, but he jerked back. 

“I don’t need your  _ pity _ , Detective.” He almost snarled. He saw her flinch back, saw something hurt in her eyes and he couldn’t decide if he was relieved or hurt. 

Before the conversation could devolve into further verbal blows, they were interrupted. 

“Done with your liquid courage?” came a surprising voice behind him. “We’ve got to get going if we’re gonna be ready for when he gets here.” 

“Ms. Lopez,” Lucifer said, turning around to see the suddenly wide eyed forensic pathologist. “I didn’t know you’d accompanied the Detective.” 

“Um. Lucifer! Hey, buddy! Yeah, it’s, uh, totally a Tribe Night. Gotta go. With Chloe. Now. HEY LOOK I THINK YOUR BARTENDER WANTTOSPEAKWITHYOU!BYE!” and with that she dragged the Detective away from her only mostly finished drink. Her... liquid courage? Drinking on a Tribe Night he could understand, but drinking alone at the bar? And since when did the Detective need any help being brave? At least it explained Maze’s presence

He  _ almost _ went after them to solve this mystery (he was, afterall, a consultant for the LAPD), but a quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that Patrick really did need to speak with him. The look he was giving Lucifer bordered on terrified. 

“Um, yeah, Boss. If you could just uh... come in back with me? There’s something I need to show you?”

“Very well, but do make it quick,” Lucifer nodded, following Patrick into Lux’s back room. After all, Lucifer did have a mystery to solve. 

“Uh, yeah, this should just take a minute.” Patrick said as he started rummaging through boxes. 

“What’s this about?” Lucifer asked. 

“Um... It’s easier if I just show you?” Patrick replied, moving to another box and rummaging through it. 

It occured to Lucifer, at last, that Patrick was lying to him. A dangerous game to play with the Devil. 

“Tell me, Patrick, why are we really back here?” Lucifer asked, letting just a hint of danger creep into his tone. Just enough to raise the hair on the back of his prey’s neck. 

“I told you, there’s something I need to show you.” Patrick lied to him again. 

Lucifer grabbed Patrick’s shoulder and spun him around, gazing deep into the bartender’s eyes. 

“Tell me, Patrick, the real reason you brought me back here. What is it you desired?”

Patrick’s mouth went slack and his eyes unfocused. 

“I desire... I desire...”

“Go on, you can tell me. I know you want to.” Lucifer said, widening his smile and pulling deeper on Patrick’s mind. 

“I want Maze to not kill me for not distracting you for long enough!” Patrick cried out, clearly terrified. 

But not nearly terrified enough, not yet, Lucifer decided as his hand went from Patrick’s shoulder to his throat. 

“And what, exactly, did Maze have planned?” He asked. Maze was here and planning something and the Detective was here too. Lucifer wasn’t about to let Maze try to manipulate or hurt her again. 

“I don’t know!” Patrick replied, eyes wide with terror. “She said they had a surprise for you, and she didn’t want you being there early to ruin it!”

“Who are ‘they’?” Lucifer asked, giving Patrick a shake. He thought Maze had learned after the incident with Cain. Apparently not. 

“Those four women! The ones you said always get to come in no matter what, the ones who hang out together? Maze, Chloe, Linda and, uh, Ella! That’s her name. They have something planned for tonight, but I swear I don’t know what it is!”

“I...” Lucifer’s grip loosened around his bartender’s throat. “I see.” 

Something involving the Doctor and Ms. Lopez probably wouldn’t be something that would harm him. It  _ definitely  _ wouldn’t be something that would harm the Detective. So, what was it they had planned. He turned back to Patrick only to see the man practically cowering before him. 

“I’m sorry,” Patrick said, almost in tears, “I’m sorry. I swear I don’t know.” 

Lucifer’s hand recoiled completely. What he’d almost done to an innocent... no wonder the detective had rejected him. 

“No, I’m sorry, Patrick. I shouldn’t have threatened you. Of course, if you require therapy from the experience, I’ll gladly cover it. Or if, after this, you’d prefer to work elsewhere, I’d be happy to give you a glowing reference.”

“No, no,” Patrick reassured him, shaking his head and smoothing down his uniform. “You did me a solid, getting me out of a bad situation when you hired me. We’re good. Just, uh... Please stay here until someone comes and gets us? I really don’t want to find out what Maze would do to me if I spoiled her plan...”

“Oh, very well,” Lucifer sighed, and settled on a box to wait. 

It was maybe five minutes later when Maze threw open the door, took in the scene with a glance, and glared at Patrick, who cowered. 

“I told you to keep him distracted!”

“Now, now, Mazikeen,” Lucifer said, stepping between them and giving the demon a look. “It’s hardly his fault you put him up against the Devil. Now, what is this surprise you’re all planning, hm?”

“Oh, I am  _ so _ not ruining that for you. Now, get your ass out there before she loses her nerve.” 

“Who?”

Maze just gave him a ‘who do you think’ look and held the door for him. 

He returned her look with a look of his own as he straightened his suit one last time and followed Maze out into the noise and bustle of the club. 

Or what should have been the noise and bustle of the club. It was surprisingly quiet, with no music playing, and the lights in most of the club brought low. It was almost like when he’d--

Maze shoved him to the top of the stairs that led down to the piano level. 

With the spotlight on her, the Detective stood out like the first star he’d lit in the heavens. She’d changed from her casual clothing into a floor length evening dress the perfect shade of blue to bring out her eyes. As Lucifer struggled to pick his jaw up off the floor, he felt Maze gesture to a pianist he hadn’t even noticed before, who played an introductory chord. 

“Ask me, how do I feel,” Chloe’s (he couldn’t think of her as the Detective. Not right now) sang into the microphone she held, her voice filling the club. Her voice was rich and full of colour, a beautiful singing voice he’d had no idea she had. It bypassed his mind completely and went straight for his heart and his body. “Ask me now that we’re cozy and clinging,” the way her voice caressed that last word, the look in her eyes as she gazed into his across the suddenly open space between them--He couldn’t help the single step he took towards her. 

She extended a leg half a step forward, revealing a slit in the dress that showed her leg most of the way up her thigh. He hadn’t even realized there was a slit at all. He suppressed the urge to go to her, kneel before her and worship that leg and anything else she’d let him have. This was Chloe’s moment, he was not about to ruin it. 

“Well Sir, All I can say is it I were a bell I’d be ringing!” She started walking towards her, her hips swaying in a way that did dangerous things to his composure. “From the moment we kissed tonight,” He pouted at her at the lie. They hadn’t kissed tonight, more’s the pity. Well, at least they hadn’t kissed yet. From the look she was giving him as she climbed the stairs, that might soon be changing. “That’s the way I’ve just got to behave.” A Devil could certainly hope. “Boy, if I were a lamp I’d light! Or If I was a banner I’d wave.”

She was only a step below him now, the microphone held carefully between them as she sang on. 

“Ask me how do I feel, little me with my quiet upbringing,” She sounded gentle, singing those words, almost apologetic, and he remembered her describing herself as a nobody, asking how she was supposed to deal with celestials. They both could have handled that particular mess better. Before he could reach out to her, she had turned away from him. Not to run away, not this time, but to continue the performance. Besides this gave him an excellent view of her back, exposed by the dress. If he hadn’t already known she was a miracle, he rather thought this sight might have clued him in. “Well Sir, all I can say is if I were a gate, I’d be swinging. And if I were a watch I’d start,” She turned to look at him over her shoulder, her lips forming deliciously around the next word, “Popping my spring,” she turns to face him fully again, leaning back against the piano and allowing the slit in her dress to fall open around her leg again. “And if I were a bell I’d go ding dong ding dong ding!” How the hell had they been partners this long without him learning she could sing like that?

“Ask me, how do I feel from this,” A momentary pause before she kept singing, emphasizing the next words, “chemistry lesson I’m learning.” Well, at least she wasn’t denying their chemistry anymore. They’d come so far from her claim that he repulsed her on a chemical level. “Well sir all I can say is if I were a bridge I’d be burning!” She’d light up under his touch, if she’d let him. They would light their way forward with all the half burnt bridges they’d left behind them. All the Almost Had Beens, all the Maybes, would guide their way towards Yes. If she’d let him, after everything. He hoped she’d let him. And, given the next lyric, he thought he probably did have a chance in Hell. 

“Yes, I knew my morale would crack, from the wonderful way that you looked,” Her eyes raked up and down his body and suddenly it wasn’t her that was burning. “Boy if I were a duck I’d quack.” He couldn’t help but snort at the ridiculousness of that particular lyric, but at least it stopped him from taking her then and there on top of the piano in front of everyone. He was fairly certain she wouldn’t want that. Particularly not as a first time. “Or If I were a goose I’d be cooked!” She sang as she made her way over to him again. 

“Ask me, how do I feel, ask me now that we’re fondly caressing,” she didn’t hold back this time, running her free hand down his shirt. She hooked a finger into his belt and gave him a sharp tug as she sang, “Pal, if I were a salad, I know I’d be splashing my dressing,” 

Even as she unhooked her finger from his belt, Lucifer was overtaken with the urge to find out just how wet he could make her. From every single bloody signal she’d given him tonight, she wouldn’t object. Possibly, even if he threw her over his shoulder right this bloody second and carried her past his patrons, up to the penthouse and into his bed. 

“Ask me how to describe this whole, beautiful thing.” She sang. He could do all of that, he supposed, but it would be a shame to ruin such a lovely performance. Besides, he wanted to see her finish. The song. And in general. 

“Well, if I were a bell,” She gave him what she probably thought was a cheeky wink but definitely fell on the other side of awkward (he loved it anyway), before turning around to lean back against him, feeling, no doubt, exactly how hard this whole situation was for him. “I’d go ding dong ding dong ding!” If he’d been anyone else, he would have thought she’d sounded angelic on the last highnote of the piece, but really, who would want to be thinking of their siblings at a time like this? 

The pianist finished her last few chords and applause broke out through the club, before the regular lights came back on and the disk-jockey turned up the regular fair. From the corner of his eyes, Lucifer could see that people were giving them the occasional look, but he only had eyes for Chloe. 

She looked up at him then, over her shoulder, and it was all she could do not to kiss her. She spoke before he could. 

“You once said the door is always open. Is it still?” She asked, so quietly no one without supernaturally good hearing could have hoped to hear. 

“For you, my lovely little doorbell,  _ always _ .” He promised, wrapping his arms lightly around her. “Would you like to come,” he paused, just long enough for her to notice before continuing, “upstairs?”

“Yes,” She said, nodding and turning to face him, taking his hand. It was funny how that, more than the thought of taking her,  _ finally _ , to bed, gave him butterflies. He took the microphone from her and put it on the tray of a passing waitress. It would get where it belonged eventually. Just as they had. 

“After you,” He said, and with that, he followed her, hand still firmly in hand, through the club and into the elevator, heading towards where they belonged. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Yes, there will be another work in this series where Lucifer gets to say "I love you," in his own special way. And by that I mean sex. The next work in this series will be pretty much purely smut with a little bit of feelings for flavour. 
> 
> I look forward to hopefully hearing your thoughts!


End file.
